Multiple Fatalities in NYC after Truck Strikes People

Posted: Oct 31, 2017 03:34 PM CDT

Updated: Oct 31, 2017 05:40 PM CDT

New York bikers dead: Scene video

NEW YORK, N.Y. (CNN) - Eight people were reported dead (as of late Tuesday afternoon) and more than a dozen injured after the driver of a Home Depot rental truck drove the wrong way down a well-trafficked bike path, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror," he said.

Police say the 29-year-old man hopped a curb at West Houston St. and drove south on the bike path on the west side of West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan for several blocks, running into pedestrians and bicyclists. He left the path and then ran into a school bus.

The driver then got out of the truck holding imitation firearms and was shot by police, according to the NYPD. The suspect is in police custody and was taken to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, sources at the NYPD said.

The incident is being investigated as terrorism, according to multiple law enforcement sources. Witnesses reported the suspect was yelling "Allahu Akbar," according to four law enforcement sources. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is taking over the lead of the investigation.

Photo credit: NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: Police gather at the scene after reports of multiple people injured after a truck plowed through a bike path in lower Manhattan on October 31, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Andy Kiss/Getty Images)

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